


Untitled Chirstmas Fic

by Written_prose_things



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas fic, Cute, Fluff, M/M, Misunderstanding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:47:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26923855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Written_prose_things/pseuds/Written_prose_things
Summary: 7 days of the winter holiday. Draco and Harry stay at the latter's flat. what could go wrong? Oh also, Draco kinda doesn't want to be there.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Kudos: 2





	Untitled Chirstmas Fic

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this fic in my do-to list for soo long. And it's still an unfinished WIP, so read at your own risk.

**18th December, Friday**

The dungeons are dark, cold and gloomy throughout the year. Harry prefers the cold biting wind in the grounds to the murky dungeons.

But he takes a deep breath and soldiers on towards the Slytherin common room. He’s been thinking about this for the past month now and with most students visiting Hogsmeade, this is his best chance to ask his question. 

The door of the Slytherin Common Room is no longer protected by a password. Instead, a newly installed knocker has been attached to the door. The hanging silver serpent head gleams in the dark hallway. 

Harry knocks on the door twice and steps back.

No answer. 

He knocks again and decides to wait.

That is, till his impatience gets the better of him. Harry slowly pushes the heavy door, which opens in a grand common room, which looks beautiful in the daylight. 

One wall of the room is made up entirely of glass, looking into the lake. Dispersed sunlight filters through the glass, casting the chandeliers and hangings in a variety of colours. 

Draco is sitting in an armchair near the window. His feet resting on an ottoman, and a blanket draped over his form. 

A pair of golden-rimmed glasses sit on his nose, glinting in the refracting sunlight. 

Draco says, in his signature drawl, “I was wondering when you would take the liberty of opening the door without any answer.”

Harry huffs, “I waited for an answer, but _someone_ didn’t say anything.”

Draco raises an eyebrow and peers at Harry over his glasses, “So, you barge in? Honestly, barn animals have better manners.”

Harry scowls, “I only came to ask if you’d like to come over for the holidays?”

Draco stiffens. A stony-expression Harry hasn’t seen in a while fades onto his face.

He asks shortly, “Why?”

Harry answers slowly, “Because, I thought you might feel lonely. It’s the holidays, so you’d like the company?”

Draco shoots out of his seat, the blanket flutters to the floor, “So you pity me?”

Harry shakes his head, “No. That’s not what I’m saying.”

Draco looks like he’s about to blow his top, so Harry explains himself quickly, “I only wanted to tell you that my flat is open this winter. So, if you feel lonely, you’re welcome to come by.”

With that, Harry retraces his steps to the Gryffindor common room, where Hermione is no doubt getting after every one to plan the work they’ve been assigned for the holidays.

oOo

The last dinner before they break for the winter holidays is a loud affair. Everyone’s laughing and messing around on their tables, among their friends.

Harry thinks he’s playing along enough for no one to notice how his attention keeps getting diverted to Draco, who’s sitting on the Slytherin table with his friends. 

Draco’s group has become much smaller than what it was at the beginning of their first year. Most Slytherins opted to not return to Hogwarts for their final year. Other had either run away from the country with their parents or were serving time in a juvenile facility that the ministry had set up. 

Harry had assumed that the whole missing parents, incarcerated friends label that Draco had landed into would make him an alien in the school. Not in an obvious way, but like everyone had treated Harry. 

He had expected everyone to point at the blond and whisper uncouth things under their breaths which Draco would still catch and feel uncomfortable about. 

Of course, there were people like that. Parkinson had hexed Romilda Vane in the hallway for something she’d said about the Slytherin’s ancestry far too loudly. 

Other than the few students at Hogwarts, who’s mouth were bigger than their brains, everyone had made an effort to include those children.

Everyone had lost family in the past few years. Harry knew that for others, people like Mrs Weasley, death had come knocking once again. But everyone was trying there best to never return to the dark again. And if that meant that they had to fit these kids into their fragmented families like jigsaw pieces, then that what they were all going to try. 

The only issue that remained with the first-years, who were often found to be saying rude shite about the Slytherins, but those opinions were mostly made up of “my mother says” and “my father thinks”, so Harry assumed that they would leave those opinions behind soon.

It was only when Seamus took away the plate of shepherd’s pie he had in his hand, that Harry realised his lack of attention hadn’t gone unnoticed and that he’d been holding onto the serving dish for quite a lot of time. 

Seamus clumsily served himself a slice of the pie with his left hand, while Dean gripped his right and passed the dish onto Hermione who was sitting opposite him and Harry. 

With the dish, he also passed an unnecessary comment. 

“Guess who’s back in their Malfoy obsession phase?”

Lavender and Parvati’s ears perked up at the gossip while Ron and Hermione hid their smirks behind their spoonfuls of food. Harry kicked Ron under the table and tried to respond snarkily. 

But having been caught out, he could only stutter out a sentence which sounded vaguely like something a five-year-old would say. 

“I wasn’t staring at him! I’m not interested in Malfoy!”

Ron and Hermione’s smiles broke into a full fit of giggles while Lavender and Parvati clutched their stomachs and laughed heartily. 

Harry continued eating his food, consciously not reacting to their laughter, save for his bright red blushing ears. 

After a few moments, when everyone was relatively distracted, Ron nudged his foot under the table, “Why are you suddenly interested in Malfoy though?”

Harry sighed. There was no way that he could get away with lying to Ron’s face. He thought his explanation through while he chewed a bite of his food.  
Ron had become far more accepting of Draco over the past year, especially after hearing his testimony.  
Everyone had. The only difference was that the Weasleys had Charlie’s experience as a measure to compare Draco’s story to, which made them much receptive to the blond.  
But despite this welcoming nature of the family, they did have apprehensions about him, which Draco respected. Fred’s death might not have been his fault, but anger and resentment rarely made people made sensible decisions. 

Harry swallowed. He knew what he had to say. 

“I asked him if he would like to come to my flat for the holidays.”

Ron’s hands jerked as he processed this information. Bits of pastry and meat landed in Hermione’s hair, who responded with a swift smack to his head and took away his cutlery before turning back to her discussion on the muggle schooling system with Dean. 

“You’re joking,” Ron says, peering at Harry like he’s lost his mind. 

Harry sighs, “He’s going to be alone for the holidays and I know a little bit of what that feels like. So I thought he’d like some company.”

Ron shakes his head, “You don’t know what he’s going through, Harry. You...” Ron amends whatever he’s about to say, “Your parents haven’t fucked off to some South American country because they value their safety over their relationship with you. Your lack of parents isn’t by their choice-”

Ron stops abruptly when he notices how Lavender and Parvati are beginning to lean into their conversation. While the war has softened the girls a bit, they have maintained their nature. 

Harry eats his dinner, dreading the conversation he’s going to have with his best friends after dinner.

oOo

When the common room starts emptying, Harry wonders for a moment, how easy it would be to go up the stairs and fall into his warm turned down bed.  
But he knows this is only going to end in Hermione’s high-pitched concerned voice lecture, he’ll only prolong the wait by going up right now. 

So he sits in the loveseat next to the fireplace and waits. Hermione and Ron share a meaningful look among themselves.  
Harry barely suppresses and eye roll. The three of them have been friends for eight years now but these two still haven’t learned how to hold private conversations. 

When Neville and Ginny finally go off to bed, Hermione plonks down on the other end of Harry’s sofa and puts her legs in his lap. Harry knows better than to assume that it’s just for a foot-rub. 

“Ron told me something after dinner.”

Harry works his thumbs into the soles of her feet and hums a questioning noise. At least by calming her down, he can make the whole experience easier on himself. The result is almost instantaneous. 

Hermione’s eyes flutter shut and she replies, “He said that you invited Draco to your flat for Christmas?”

Harry replies slowly, “No, I invited him over for the entire holiday.”

Hermione’s usual thunder-struck expression has been replaced by a serene expression. The telling-off he would have received is also replaced by a slow hum as Hermione processes what he’s saying. 

“Hmm, Ron.. you were wrong, it’s the whole-” Hermione interrupts herself with a long yawn. 

Ron rolls his eyes. He gets up from his armchair and crunches down next to her, “Love, focus on what he said. Harry’s inviting Malfoy over for the entire week. I can give you foot rubs every hour of every day during the hols, just please pay attention.”

Hermione grins at Ron from her place on one of the cushions on the loveseat, “But darling, I want you to do so much more during the holidays with me.”

Harry’s never pushed Hermione away so quickly. Ron keeps her from falling to the floor and scowls at Harry, “What’d you do that for?”

Harry shrugs, “Don’t touch me when you’re talking about your bedroom stuff.”

Ron rolls his eyes, “Well now you know what I felt like when you were dating Gin.”

Harry huffs, “well, I’m not dating her any more, am I?”

Ron huffs out a soft laugh.

Harry settles back onto the love seat and notices that Hermione’s fallen asleep. His plan’s worked.

Ron notices his smirk and shakes his head, “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing.”

Harry shrugs and looks away, but knows that he’s been caught out. 

Ron sighs, “Look, I understood when you decided to not to come to the Burrow.” He sighs and continues, “It hasn’t been the same since- since last year. But this? You’re planning on holing yourself up in that tiny apartment for a whole with that kid? How will that work?”

Harry shrugs, “Not the whole week, I was planning on bringing him to the burrow for exchanging gifts.”

Ron blurts out a very loud, “What?”

Hermione startles in her sleep and the boys quieten down, staring at her intently for a moment. But she settles just as quickly. 

Ron repeats himself quietly, “What? Why would you bring him to the Burrow?”

“Don’t act like you guys weren’t thinking on doing the same. I saw the new yarn in Mrs Weasley’s bag. She doesn’t use silver yarn for any of us.”

Ron folds his arms and looks away, having been caught out. He retorts childishly, “Maybe she’s finally realised that I don’t like maroon.”

Harry rolls his eyes and gets up, “Look, it isn’t like this matters anymore. He already said he isn’t going to come.”

Ron asks slowly, “He isn’t coming...to your flat? Or to the burrow?”

“Have you even asked him to come to the Burrow yet?”

Ron’s face submerges into a mix of emotions, to Harry it only looks like his face when he’s rushing to the toilets after a long and disgusting potions class.

Harry shakes his head, “Mate, you can think about that later. Let’s go up now, you still have to pack tomorrow.”

Ron sighs, “Yeah...”

Unwilling to wake Hermione up, just to send her upstairs, Ron picks her up and walks up the stairs, depositing her on his bed before lying down next to her. 

Harry follows him up and climbs into bed just as quickly. Seamus grumbles at Ron from his bed, “Don’t wake us up with any funny business.”

Harry thinks Ron replies scathingly about the fact that he and Dean are sharing a bed too, but the warmth of the comfortable bed draws him into the dredges of a comfortable sleep too quickly to be able to tell.

oOo

The next morning is exactly the kind of hoopla Harry expects. Dean and Seamus flit around the tiny room, getting each other’s things and packing them up, wasting time only in giving each other sappy looks. Neville is stressing out about the list of stuff he has to take home. 

On the other end of the room, Hermione’s about to start screeching about Ron’s lack of planning while the redhead calmly lobs whatever he sees into his trunk. Harry picks up his bookbag walks down to breakfast.  
He has a lot of stuff at the flat, so he doesn’t need to carry a full trunk back home. 

It feels weird to be going “home” from Hogwarts, he’s never done that before. Sure, he’s travelled to the Burrow in the holidays and it is a very welcoming place, but the Burrow is more like a close relative’s house and not his own. 

Breakfast is, as usual, a quick affair. The house-elves put out an array of finger foods, sandwiches, crackers, fruits and such, that the students can pick up and go if they’re late. 

Draco’s sitting at the Slytherin table alone when Harry walks into the Great Hall. Harry thinks about joining him for breakfast, but the dirty look the blond throws him, makes Harry change that decision. 

After a moment, his friends and assorted Gryffindors walk down to the breakfast, and he forgets about badgering Draco more. 


End file.
